June 28, 2022 • 43 mins
Karen makes her opening argument against her primary suspect, William Clarke, based on the information provided in the 1935 reports and from Captain Vollten's confidential informants from 1954....but, who were the informants?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
He was involved in a criminal world with his friends
and associates. It quickly ed related into the homicide. It
wouldn't surprise me at all incompetence or corruption, especially in DC.
There was a lot of activity going on. The case
was forgotten while open up this can of worm. There
(00:22):
were things that were just bess left buried. Welcome back
to Shattered Souls the car Barn Murders. I'm your host,
Karen Smith. This is episode fifteen. This podcast contains graphic
language and is not suitable for children. Previously on the
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Carborn murders in ninety four, Captain Theodore Volton wrote a
follow up report after a male confidential informant came forward
with new information on the Carborn murder case. This same
informant had come forward in nineteen forty along with a
female informant, with information that the robbery and murders were
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planned in a beauty salon operated by Jonas Willard Green,
a former sergeant from the Washington d C. Police Force.
The female informants said that Jonas Willard Greene, William Clark,
a man named White, a woman named Emmanuel, and a
man named Duffy all attended this meeting Jonas Willard Green
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ran a large number of rooming houses around the district
and amassed millions of dollars in profits without ever being
questioned or arrested for any violations of the law, even
though the vast majority of his tenants were young, single women.
It's my belief that the vast majority of his rooming
houses were dens of prostitution and hubs for racketeers. I
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found no definitive proof such as police raids listed in
the news, but the circumstantial evidence and common sense certainly
points the needle in that direct action. Based upon the
exponential growth of the Green's wealth in a very short
period of time, a fugitive from justice on a rape
chart had taken refuge in one of Green's rooms, and
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Green had some type of alliance with Orville Staples, another
x DC police officer who became the boss in the
slot machine and bootlegging rackets. Jonas Willard Green's high end
clothing business, Mill Green Incorporated, burned to the ground under
suspicious circumstances right before a final bankruptcy hearing, nearly killing
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two tenants of a third floor apartment. Green filed an
insurance claim for ten thousand dollars for the loss of
the contents that were supposed to have been sold at
a bankruptcy sale months before. Jonas Willard Green quit the
police department under a dark cloud after three district inspectors
found six violations in just one week of following his
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every move. Numerous letters to the DC Commissioners from senators
and congressmen failed to get Green off the hook. It
made me wonder what Green got away with before someone
in the department decided to get firsthand dirt on him.
At the end of episode fourteen, I mentioned that I
also discovered that Jonas Willard Green was related to District
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Commission President Melvin Hazen, one of the most influential elites
in the district. I found out that Green and Hazen
were cousins, talk about one hand washing the other. In
nineteen thirty three, Hazen was appointed to his position by
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, with whom Hazen was a social friend.
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Hazen was also friends with members of the Senate in Congress,
the District Attorney's office, and with d C Police Superintendent
Ernest Brown, Lord Mayor of Washington. Melvin Hazen had the
power to quash criminal charges for his friends with a
simple phone call. In my eyes, Jonas Willard Green skirted
the law because he was politically, socially and economically connected
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to the right person, his own cousin, who took payoffs
to ignore any violations. The police department allowed his rooming
house prostitution business to operate, turned a blind eye to
Green's underworld deals and pocketed hush money. Taking payoffs to
ignore it was much easier than going after a big
fish like Jonas Willard Green, who had connections that led
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directly to the Capitol Building and the White House through
his cousin Melvin Hazen. In my opinion, Jonas Willard Green
was hands off untouchable. Teflon Green was a man of
great wealth and influence with a family connection to the
most influential man in the city. As long as those
at the top of the political food chain worked together,
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there was no threat or worry about getting caught by
the police, who were being paid handsomely to look the
other way. On the surface, the scheme was simple and
clear cut, but the public was being sold a bill
of goods. Since the real racket kings like Jonas Willard
Green were operating wide open and with the tacit permission
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of those tasked with eliminating them simply put money talks.
Jonas Willard Green and his wife Gertrude opened a beauty
parlor Green's Company Incorporated in nine in the tobacco store
that had been owned by Gertrude's father before he died.
Green's Company Incorporated was in the same location as the
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Shingle Shop, a beauty parlor half owned by James Weir,
and the Modern School of Beauty owned by weird sister
Niva Berardinelli. This single location of all three businesses was
the connective tissue between Jonas Willard Green, James Weir, and
William Clark, my primary suspect for the robbery and murders
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of James Mitchell and Emery Smith. The fact that all
three of these dy salon's were one and the same
adds a lot of weight to the statement by the
female confidential informant who said that the crime was planned
in a beauty salon operated by Jonas Willard Green, and
that William Clark was at that meeting. The female informant
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was privy to this information, who was present and where
it occurred, so she must have either been a direct
witness to this meeting or had credible information of her
own to offer to Captain Bolton. Continuing to unfold the
nineteen fifty four addendum report, Captain Bolton came out of
retirement and did some digging of his own. He found
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out that the woman who went by the name Emmanuel,
who was present during the planning meeting at Green's beauty salon,
was actually named Gertrude. Could she have been Jonas Willard
Green's ex wife, Gertrude Pond or Green's daughter Gertrude She
also became a beautician, and an award winning one at
that That sure seemed coincidental to me. Volton also discovered
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information about Duffy, the mechanic who operated a garage for
Jonas Willard Green in the area of Seventh and End
Streets Northwest. Duffy was also at the meeting, and he
disappeared in nineteen thirty six and was never heard from again.
If Duffy helped to hide the car used in the
murders and wasn't trusted to keep things quiet, was he expendable?
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Was Duffy another despicable witness? Elimination the female informant and
Volton searched that area in nineteen forty, but the garage
and car were never located. Also recall the name John Swayes,
William Clark's associate. Swayes was a taxi driver and mechanic,
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and he lived at Fourth and End Streets Northwest, just
three blocks from that garage. William Clark visited John Swayes
at a gas station and on the night he took
Mary Branch out to killer. That sounded like additional premeditated
planning between Clarke and Swales. Could John Swales actually have
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been Duffy, the mechanic who worked for Jonas Willard Green
and was never heard from after nineteen thirty six. My
sixth sense says yes, but unfortunately I don't know for sure,
and I have no way to find out. Before I
go forward, I need to say this, we stand on
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the shoulders of giants when we work cold cases like
this one. Without the incredible gumshoe detective work of Theodore Bolton,
Leroy Rogers, James mccauliffe, Stewart Deal and the follow ups
by Jack Toomey, and the reports and information that have
been preserved for over eighty seven years, I would never
have been able to complete my investigation. I have to
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give credit where it's due to all of them. I
say thank you for your debty cation and work to
try to find the answers. You handed the ball off
and I ran with it. This investigation was not only
for my family and James Mitchell's family, it was for
all of them as well. Captain Volton's ninety four report
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rounded out the list of players in this horrible story.
I had to finish putting all of the pieces together
to present a case not only to you, but to
the people with the power to make a ruling on
the Carborn case and whether or not my investigation is
worthy of ruling. It closed for good, just like my
years on the street. If it's not documented, it didn't happen.
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It's all in the articulation. And believe me, this is
the longest police report I've ever written. In order for
a case to go forward, the information must be accurate, factual, objective,
and verifiable. Obviously, there won't be any arrests or indictments
since everyone involved is presumed dead given their age at
the time of the crime. But my game is to
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get the Carborn case officially solved and closed. You play
the most important role. You're the public jury. After you've
listened to all of the evidence and information, I'm going
to leave it in your hands to decide whether or
not I've made my case, and either take that information
to the Montgomery County State Attorney's Office for a final ruling,
or be satisfied that although I gave it my best shot,
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there just wasn't enough in the public side to make
a verdict. That's a scary prospect, but it's the only
fair and balanced way to do this. This is a
largely circumstantial case, and after eighty seven years, that's not surprising.
There's no DNA available, no murder weapon to do ballistics comparisons.
The evidence from the scene at the Rock Creek Bridge
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was lost or destroyed decades ago. The gun and bloody clothing,
supposedly in the possession of Captain Richard McCarty was never
reported or followed up. The car was never found. The
reports detailed nothing about the clothing of victims James Mitchell
and Emery Smith, and the chain of custody for the
bullets and casings is unclear since they were sent via
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the post Office to various other departments for comparison to
their cases with similar circumstances. It's my understanding that there
is one bullet that's remained in a sealed envelope from
Pumphrey's fueral home, and that evidence is still in the
possession of the Montgomery County Police. Without a gun for comparison,
it's useless. Without a chain of custody for the gun,
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if it's ever located, the murder weapon would be useless.
Bottom line, this isn't a forensic case. In order for you,
the public jury, to make a fair ruling, there are
a couple of little housekeeping items to go through, starting
with an explanation of the types of evidence, direct and circumstantial.
Either of them can be used to prove any fact.
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There's no distinction between the weight that you can give
to either direct or circumstantial evidence. It is for you,
the jury, to decide how huch weight to give any
piece of evidence. Now, what's the difference. Direct evidence establishes
a fact. Eyewitness testimony and suspect confessions are examples of
direct evidence, and as we all know, eyewitness testimony can
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be flawed and people can give false confessions. So even
though direct evidence can provide a factual part of a case,
the weight of that direct evidence still hinges on the
totality of circumstances, and that is where circumstantial evidence comes in.
Circumstantial evidence is what many cases are based on. This
includes forensic science like DNA and fingerprints. It's not absolute
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proof of a fact in and of itself, but when
circumstantial evidence from multiple sources all lead to the same conclusion,
then it's considered to be proof of guilt beyond a
reasonable doubt. Does that circumstantial evidence lead to other evidence
that tells a logical story? Now, hold on, there's a catch.
It's only proof of guilt if there's no alternative explanation
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of innocence that makes as much sense or more sense
than the establishment of guilt through that same evidence. In short,
is there a logical conclusion through the circumstantial evidence that
establishes the facts of the case along with any intent
by the suspect. In the end, the jury has to
weigh not only the facts presented in the way of
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direct evidence, but the logical conclusions via circumstantial evidence. It's
a heavy burden. Sometimes when a case hinges on one
eye witness or one small forensic clue. Henry David Thoreau
once said, some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when
you find a trout in the milk. He meant that,
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if you find a trout in your milk bucket, it
sure didn't swim there on its own. And my opinion,
if the Carborn case is that milk bucket, there's an
entire aquarium swimming around in it. If I were to
present the evidence on this case today to one of
the prosecutors I worked with over many years and many investigations,
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I believe that not only would they bring forward a
criminal indictment, they'd also receive a resounding guilty verdict in
court once they argued the facts to an unbiased jury.
Now that's just my opinion, and opinions are like, well,
you know, everybody has one. I had to take all
of this into consideration when I started to make my
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conclusions on this case. I knew that there would be
very little, if any, direct evidence, and that it would
be largely circumstantial. But after being a witness in so
many trials as a detective and watching how the prosecution
and the defense put their cases together, I had a
pretty good idea of how to present my findings to
you in an unbiased way. Believe me, I would love
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nothing more than to stamp the words case solved on
this file, but that's not how it works. I have
to rely on an objective jury. That's you. So welcome
to the car Barn Murders Podcast courtroom. Switch your investigator
thinking cap over to your impartial juror hat and let's
get started. I'll begin with a quick review and then
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I'm going to present the case against my primary suspect,
William Clark. On January one, ninety two victims were brutally
murdered during a robbery of the Chevy Chase Lake ticket
office of the Capital Transit Company. James Mitchell and Emery
Smith had both been shot multiple times in the head
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with the same gun, a coult Oh three thirty two
caliber semi automatic. James Mitchell's body was left on the
floor of the locked money cage and Emery Smith's body
was found floating in Rock Creek, just a mile north
of the office. Evidence suggested that Smith had been shot
in a car at close range before being dragged into
the water by two suspects. Emery Smith had punched his
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time clock card at four twenty three am, the last
verifiable action of either victim. Witness Parker Hannah arrived for
work at about five ten in the morning and found
the front door of the ticket office unlocked. When he entered,
he found James Mitchell's body in the locked money cage.
Parker Hannah, Robert Abersolt, and Lynwood Jones went into the
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trainman's room and found Francis Gregory allegedly asleep on a
bench next to the wall adjacent to the money cage
where Mitchell was shot and killed. All of the other
doors inside of the ticket office were reported to be unlocked.
Parker Hannah reported that the north side window was unlocked,
with muddy shoeprints left on the window sill, the screen
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lying on the ground outside, and one set of shoeprints
in the snow outside of that window. Ear witnessed Charles
Smallwood heard gunshots and shouting on the street from the
basement of the T. W. Perry Coal Company at around
four thirty five am. I witness Anist Carter was waiting
on the first trolley at Dan's hotdog stand at around
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four thirty when he heard gunshots and shouting, and saw
two white men run out of the ticket office and
get into a green buick driven by a third man.
He reported that the car was initially facing southbound, did
a U turn on Connecticut Avenue and went north toward
the Rock Creek Bridge. Shoeprints in the snow exited the
car barn and stopped abruptly at Connecticut Avenue. Other shoeprints
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led south from an area of empty lots to the
north of the ticket office and back to tire tracks
of a vehicle that circled and waited before turning southbound
on Connecticut Avenue. Hand impressions in the snow on a
rock between the office and the empty lots showed that
someone stopped and sat down. No fingerprints were found on
any evidence, and no blood was found outside of the
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ticket office. Four shell casings, one thirty two caliber bullet,
and two projectiles were collected at the scene, one from
behind and an inkwell and one from the plaster above
the desk. Another projectile went through the desk and remained
lodged in the wall that separated the office from the
trainman's room. There were no reports of any shell casings
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found at the bridge over Rock Creek or anywhere outside
of the ticket office or Carborne. On the afternoon of Monday,
January twenty one, the day of the murders, William Clark
went to police headquarters and told the detectives that he'd
heard Street talk about his possible involvement and inserted himself
into the investigation. He was held in jail for three days.
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Clark's girlfriend, Mary Branch and his friend James Weir were
also arrested and brought in for questioning. William Clark worked
for Capital Transit at the chevy Chase Lake Ticket office
for one month in September of nineteen thirty four. On
October fourteenth, nineteen thirty four, he was arrested along with
James Weir for committing an armed robbery. Around Christmas of
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nineteen thirty four, William Clark sold his Capital Transit Company
uniform to Francis Gregory, the man allegedly sleeping in the
trainman's room on the morning of the murders. On Saturday,
January nineteenth, nineteen thirty five, just two days before the murders,
William Clark went to the chevy Chase Lake Ticket office
two times under the guise of retrieving a change carrier.
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On Sunday night, January Clark had a meeting with a
police officer at the apartment of his girlfriend, Mary Branch
at fourteen fifteen Gerard Street. Clark said that he, James
Weir and Mary Branch all went to the Gaiety Theater
and arrived back home around eleven thirty pm. He said
that he didn't leave Mary's apartment until one fifteen Monday afternoon,
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at which point he went down to police headquarters. William
Clark admitted to sleeping in the bedroom while Mary Branch
slept on the couch. James Weir went home around eleven
fifteen pm. This was verified by his friend Joseph Goddard.
William Clark said that he had an appointment with mister Stevens,
the superintendent of Transportation, for Monday, January twenty first, in
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order to get his job back. Mister Stevens referred Clark
to mister Kelly, the company's attorney. Clark did not keep
either appointment, opting instead to go to the police station.
A green Buick was stolen from the area of fifteenth
in Irving Street at around ten o'clock p m. On
Sunday night, January twentieth. This car was never recovered, and
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it was located within walking distance from William Clark's apartment
on Gerard Street, just two blocks away. I witness Ernest
Carter was certain that the car he saw outside of
the ticket office at the time of the robbery and
murders was a Green Buick. Here say information from witness
kW Gettings via his roommate, alleged that Gettings saw William
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Clark on the morning of the murders in a Pontiac
sedan parked across the street from the fourteenth and East
Capitol Street ticket office when a milk truck shined its
headlights across the driver of the car, whom Gettings identify
as William Clark. During his police interview, William Clark admitted
to knowing James Mitchell. I discovered that Mitchell aided the
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police on a previous arrest of Clark for robbery. Clark
denied knowing my great uncle Emory Smith. However, he described
Smith very accurately during his interview with detectives, and he
worked at the same location and during the same hours
as Emory Smith for a month in the fall of
nineteen thirty four. William Clark's movements, meetings, times of departure, return,
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and subsequent actions did not coincide at all with the
information from his girlfriend Mary Branch. Clark failed to mention
any meeting with a police officer on Sunday night, a
taxi ride to the Gayety Theater. He also failed to
mention his friendship with Francis Gregory until the detectives prompted
a response, at which time he admitted to knowing Gregory.
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William Clark also admitted that he frequented the horse track
we William Clark was in serious debt. He owed witness
Frank Sherman one hundred sixty five dollars to whom he
had already written several bad checks. Clarke gave Sheerman a
vehicle as collateral. Clark told Sherman that three hundred dollars
was owed on the bank note, but in actuality there
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was six hundred fifty dollars owed on the car from
a previous loan that Clark had taken out on it.
The week before the murders, Clark, his cousin Benny Johnson,
and two other men went to Sherman's home in Baltimore
at one thirty in the morning and tried to strong
arm the car back. Clark told Sheuerman that he desperately
needed it. Clark left without the car and Mr. Sherman
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kept it. Mary Branch said that Clark had been in
trouble for failing to pay alimony to his wife, Viola
and in support of their three children. Mary also stated
that she had paid money on the car that Clark
took to Sherman's. She helped him financially, gave him food
and a place to live. In May of nineteen thirty five,
just five months after the murders of James Mitchell and
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Emery Smith, William Clark drove Mary Branch into rural Ilchester, Maryland,
in the middle of the night. He beat her senseless
with a blackjack and then threw her over a thirty
five foot bridge into the Patapsco River, believing he had
left her for dead. Later that morning, Clark got word
from his cousin Benny Johnson, threw a taxi driver that
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Mary survived the beating and fall into the water and
was at the hospital. William Clark panicked and ran out
of his apartment, followed closely by a woman. Clark represented
himself in court on the attempted murder charge and was
found guilty in June of nineteen thirty five. He received
an eight year prison sentence at the Maryland State Penitentiary.
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Before the attempt on her life, Mary Branch had been
talking to Francis Gregory and told Gregory that Clark would
sit around and plan hold ups. She also told Gregory
that she heard Clarke was seeing another woman, and if
she found that to be true, she would tell everything
she new to the police. A few days later, Clark
tried to kill her. Mary told a newspaper reporter that
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the reason for the attempted murder was because she knew
too much. William Clark purchased furniture and put five hundred
dollars down on a house in Chevy Chase with his
other girlfriend, Edith Small, the woman referenced by Mary Branch
as the catalyst for her discussion with Francis Gregory. Mary
Branch wrote to William Clark in prison regarding surreptitious letters
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that she intercepted sent from Edith Small to George McNeil.
The letters referenced Clark and Edith's communications in which Edith
wrote that quote, she hoped you would soon get your
release so she and you could carry out your plans.
During Francis Gregory's interview, he ended it by saying he
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believed William Clark was in on the Carborn job. During
William Clark's interview, the detectives surmised that Clark could have
been the fingerman for the murders. D C Police Captain
Richard McCarty believed that Clark could have used a bottle
of anesthesia found at the apartment to render Mary Branch
unconscious before committing the crime. A prostitute named Marjorie had
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information that Clark pulled the Carborn job, which she disclosed
to Richmond Police Sergeant Anthony during a tryst. Captain Volton's
two confidential informants also named William Clark as the perpetrator.
William Clark pawned a watch taken during the robbery of
an employee of the Hot Shops restaurant chain to a
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man named John Swayes. Clark visited Swales at a gas
station at Fourth and End Street Northwest on the night
he took Mary Branch out to kill her. John Swayales
also visited Clark several times when he worked at the
Chevy Chase Lake office. John Swayes was a taxi driver
and a mechanic. From his prison cell, Clark wrote to
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several people, including Nevo Berardinelli, James Weir sister. James Weir
had a half interest in the Shingle Shop beauty parlor.
Niva Borardinelli owned the Modern School of Beauty. Both shared
a location with Green's Company Incorporated, a beauty parlor owned
by ex DC Police Sergeant Jonas Willard Green. In nineteen
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thirty eight, Captain Richard McCarty informed Captain Bolton that he
completed an independent investigation on William Clark in nineteen thirty
five and about the anesthesia bottle that was never reported.
Captain McCarty was also allegedly in possession of a gun
and bloody clothing that belonged to William Clark, but the
disposition of those items remains unknown. Clark was also alleged
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to have received three or four guns from a police officer,
but this was also unsubstantiated. In nineteen thirty five, a
reference was made to Shorty at the garage at seventh
and End Street Northwest, who could tell more about Clark
than anyone. Another man named Duffy operated a garage at
Seventh and End Street Northwest and was a mccannic for
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Jonas Willard Green. In nineteen forty, Detective Volton and a
female informant attempted to find a garage in the area
of Seventh and End Streets that how's the vehicle used
in the robbery and murders. The garage and car were
never located. In nineteen fifty four, a male confidential informant
came forward with new information. This same informant had also
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spoken about the murders in nineteen forty. The male informant
received information from a confidential female informant that the robbery
and murders were planned in a beauty salon operated by
Jonas Willard Green, and that William Clark was at that meeting.
Those are the facts about William Clark as they've been
presented in the case file and within my objective investigation.
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With all of that information, I can add some additional
circumstantial evidence that I've found during my exhaustive research and
make some logical conclusions. First, I'm going to establish the means,
the motive, and the opportunity for William Clark to have
committed the Carborn robbery and murders. Motive is the reason
behind the crime, means is the ability to commit the crime,
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and opportunity is the chance to commit the crime. These
three aspects are used to assist prosecutors and investigators with
the narrowing down of suspects. Although they can be considered
a trifecta of information and provide essential facts about a
specific suspect, they're not in and of themselves conclusive regarding guilt.
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So for now just consider this information regarding William clark motive.
It was a robbery first and foremost so the motive
was money. William Clark was in serious debt and he
had a new girlfriend, Edith Small. He moved his clothes
from the apartment of his other girlfriend, Mary Branch, two
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weeks prior to the murders. He went back to Mary's
apartment on Saturday and stayed there until Monday afternoon, when
he turned himself off in William Clark attempted to kill
Mary Branch when she threatened to tell what she knew
to the police. He owed alimony to his wife, Fiola,
in addition to other debts owed to Frank Sherman, and
Mary Branch stated that she was supporting him financially. I
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also believe that William Clark had a gambling debt to
some very dangerous or very important people, namely Jonas Willard
Green or one of his close affiliates. I suspect that
Clark got an ultimatum at the Beauty Salon meeting and
a final warning during their Sunday night meeting time's up,
pay me or else. Clark attempted to repossess a car
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from Frank Sherman the week before the murders, ostensibly to
repay his debt under fraudulent circumstances since the car was
already in arrears from a previous loan. After the carborn
robbery and murders, William Clark had the funds to purchase
furniture and put a five hundred dollar deposit down on
a house. William Clark had the motive to commit the
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crime next his means. Clark knew the operation of the
Chevy Chase Lake office inside and out, since he worked
there and saw it firsthand. He would have known about
the vacant lots just to the north of the ticket
office and the path through the snow passed the miniature
golf course to get to the front door, which had
been left unlocked for him. Clark's car was at Shoreman's
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in Baltimore, and he was unsuccessful at getting it back.
The stolen Green Buick was located within walking distance from
his apartment on Gerard Street. I witnessed Ernest Carter named
the car he saw as a Green Buick. Clark could
have secreted the car in the garage at Seventh and
End Streets and called his buddy and taxi driver, John Swales,
who lived just three blocks away, to take Clark and
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the others back to Girard Street before the sun came up.
Regarding the murder weapon, it was reported that a police
officer gave Clark three or four different guns. That's unsubstantiated,
but access to a firearm wouldn't have been an issue.
The gun used in the carborn murders was described as
older and in not very good shape, which would point
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to a street purchase, something Clark would have been very
familiar with. Since he was previously arrested for an armed robbery,
Clark had the means to commit the crime. Finally, opportunity
William Clark's alibi was Mary Branch and James Weir, both
of whom initially substantiated his story about attending the Gaiety
Theater on Sunday night, but the murders didn't happen until
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early Monday morning. Mary Branch and William Clark slept separately
by their own admission, so Mary couldn't alliby him. James
Weir was home by eleven fifteen p m. According to
Mary Branch and Weir's frand Joseph Goddard. Imperatively, I recently
found a newspaper ad for the Gaiety Theater that listed
the showtimes. There was no evening show on Sunday nights.
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The matinee started at five o'clock. None of them went
to the Gaiety Theater on Sunday night. There was no
trip in a taxi to the Gayety. Their entire alibi
about going there on Sunday night was pure, unadulterated bullshit.
The green buick was stolen at around ten o'clock PM
on Sunday night, when Clark was not at the theater.
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William Clark had no alibi whatsoever for the night of
January to the morning of January one, William Clark had
the opportunity to commit this crime. Now that I've established
the means, motive, and opportunity for William Clark, let me
go a little further with the circumstantial evidence, using my
investigative experience peppered with a little common sense. William Clark
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worked at the chevy Chase Lake office as a conductor
for one month in the fall of ninety four. He
knew the layout of that office, the times that the
Brinks truck would be scheduled for a pick up on
Monday morning, the amounts available, how it was packaged in
large canvas bags, that only one clerk would be inside
of the office, ingress and egress routes from Connecticut Avenue
(32:59):
where to park the are and that the final trolley
of the night left the barn at two oh five
and the three hour window before the next one was
scheduled to depart at five thirty. Clark would have known
that the night watchman would be across the street at
the car barn readying the trolleys for that first morning run.
Clark also had a friend working there that night, whom
(33:19):
I believe he enlisted to make sure that all of
the doors were unlocked. Francis Gregory Clark went to the
office twice on Saturday for no authentic reason. It's my
opinion that he was getting one last look at the
schedule board to see who would be working on Sunday night,
one final walk through of the office to get reacquainted
with the doors, the locks, exits, and entrances, and he
(33:41):
scoped it out to make sure his plan would work
without a hitch. Another reason for going there on Saturday
would be to make sure that any fingerprints left behind
during the robbery could be explained away should the cops
find them after the crime. Clark also wanted to show
his face to as many people as possible to establish
a receding alibi, just in case anyone named him outright
(34:03):
as a suspect. He could just say, of course, it
wasn't me. I was there on Saturday, which was exactly
what happened. On Sunday evening, Clark met with a police
officer with blonde hair whose name sounded like Creek or Greek.
Jonas Willard Green I believe that Clark had a gambling
debt and owed Green money. Clark was given an ultimatum
(34:27):
pay up or else along with a deadline. During that meeting,
Clark assured Green that the money was forthcoming. With the
deadline for payment imminent, the failure to recover his car
from Frank Schuerman to repay his deficit, and no other
car available that wouldn't be identified to anyone he knew,
William Clark and his accomplices Walter Oliver and Robert Janney
(34:49):
walked two blocks and stole the Green Buick from Fifteenth
and Irving Streets. They then drove to the ticket office
at fourteenth and East Capitol Street. Clark intended to rob
two ticket offices that night, the one at fourteenth and
East Capitol Street in addition to chevy Chase Lake, but
Clark was spotted by kW Gettings and had to abort
(35:11):
that first robbery, at which point they drove to the
area of chevy Chase Lake. The car was observed by
John Stout at three fifty in the morning as it
idled on the east side of Connecticut Avenue facing north,
a half mile south of the ticket office. After being
seen by John Stout, they drove to the empty lots
to the north of the chevy Chase Lake office to
(35:33):
park and wait out of sight. One of the suspects
exited the car and left shoe prints in the snow
along the B and O railroad tracks out to Connecticut
Avenue During a quick reconnaissance of the ticket office to
make sure that James Mitchell was working alone, The shoe
prints led back to the waiting car, at which point
the car exited the lots and went south to wait
(35:55):
in front of the office, with the car facing southbound.
According to plan, the front door of the ticket office
was unlocked by Francis Gregory, just like the Brightwood Ticket
office attempted robbery several months before. William Clark and either
Jenny or Oliver entered the office and demanded that James
Mitchell unlocked the cage door at gunpoint. Mitchell was taken
(36:18):
by surprise and unlocked the cage door under duress. Because
William Clark knew that James Mitchell previously aided the police
and his arrest. Clark shott Mitchell three times in the
head to eliminate him as a witness, and kicked his
body over to make sure he was dead. I don't
believe that Walter Oliver or Robert Jenny expected Clark to
(36:39):
kill Mitchell, which set everyone into a panic that would
explain the shouting heard by both Ernest Carter and Charles Smallwood.
Either Janny or Oliver grabbed the twenty two pound money bags.
Then he and Clark fled out of the office to
the waiting buick, which made a U turn on Connecticut
Avenue and went north toward the car barn where Emery
(37:01):
Smith was resting in the workshop. Smith heard the shouting
and gunshots and ran out of the barn to Connecticut Avenue.
He was forced into the car at gunpoint when he
tried to stop them, and he recognized William Clark, who
recognized him back. Smith was killed in the car with
four shots to the head to eliminate him as a witness,
(37:21):
and then he was dumped at the first convenient place,
Rock Creek, to hide his body and cover up as murder.
The car was covered with blood and the glass of
a window was shattered, so William Clark, Walter Oliver, and
Robert Channey went north to Plier's Mill Road, then east
to Georgia Avenue. They went south on Georgia Avenue, which
(37:43):
turns into Seventh Street northwest. It was a straight shot
to the garage at seventh and End Street, which was
operated by Duffy, an employee of Jonas Willard Green. Once
the car was secreted in this garage, Clark and the
others got a ride, likely from his friend John Swales,
whom I believe was Duffy, back to Gerard Street or
(38:03):
some other location to divvy up the money, and then
they went their respective ways. If the car was parked
in a garage for years without being detected, it was
hidden by someone with a lot of influence and muscle
Jonas Willard Green to keep that under wraps and keep
the people with any knowledge of its whereabouts quiet. Duffy
disappeared in nineteen thirty six. Mary Branch knew everything, and
(38:28):
she threatened to go to the police when she heard
that William Clark was seeing Edith Small. Clarke tried to
kill Mary by throwing her into a river, just like
Emery Smith had been thrown into Rock Creek. Clark panicked
when he found out that Mary survived, and he kept
her in his orbit with letters from prison. Clark juggled
all three women in his life, Viola, Mary and Edith
(38:49):
with manipulation, and he made himself into the victim. After
William Clark repaid his debt to Jonas Willard Green with
the spoils from the robbery, and the investigation into the
murders began. The district powers in charge learned of Clark's
alliance with Green, Clark's investigation became hands off. The detectives
(39:10):
chased other suspects from out of town notorious murderers like
Tony the Stinger Cogino, who wouldn't be bothered with a
small town heist. Like the chevy Chase Lake Office, they
went on wild goose chases. William Clark was in custody
for three days. There was no follow up regarding his alibi,
no further questions about the fact that the Gaiety Theater
(39:30):
had no Sunday night show, which is something that anyone
who lived in d C would have known outright, especially
the district detectives who questioned him. James Weir wasn't pursued
at all, and his interview amounted to all of two
sentences that said they didn't learn anything. As long as
the investigation steered clear of William Clark and by association,
(39:51):
Jonas Willard Green, the detectives were allowed to move forward.
That also explains why the State of Maryland started a
case against Walter Oliver and others and not directly against
William Clark, and why so many balls were dropped during
Clark's part of the investigation. Because of Jonas Willard Green's
tangential association to a double murder murders that were not
(40:14):
part of the original robbery plan, the case was swept
under the rug and covered up due to Green's relationship
with his cousin, d C Commission President Melvin Hazen. William
Clark wasn't discreet and would have done anything to get
out of prison or get a reduced sentence, including the
dropping of Jonas Willard Green's name. Clark couldn't be trusted
to keep a lid on it, so for the people
(40:35):
in charge, it was better to leave the case buried
under amount of suspicion rather than give Clark up as
the perpetrator and risk him running his mouth. While Clark
was in prison for the attempted murder of Mary Branch,
Clark alluded to a friend in one of his letters
whom he said would float him the money for an attorney.
In my opinion, his friend was Jonas Willard Green. I
(40:58):
believe that Montgomery County detectives Volton, mccaulliffe and Rogers could
have solved this case in nineteen thirty six, but they
were prevented from doing so by the powers in the
District of Columbia. They had no jurisdiction over the district
line from Montgomery County. That was why Colonel mccauliffe got
so angry when Jack Toomey mentioned the Carborn case to
(41:20):
him in nineteen five. Mccaulliffe knew it was a cover
up and he was powerless to do anything about it
because the suspects all lived in d C, even though
the crime happened just over the district line in Maryland.
Volton and the others were reliant upon the assistance of
district detectives who were in the know about Clark and
Green's affiliation, and the Brakes were slammed on any further investigation.
(41:44):
By nineteen fifty four, when the new information came out,
nearly twenty years had passed and nobody in the district,
including Captain Richard McCarty, was going to open that can
of arms and have to testify in court as to
their incompetence or complicity in a cover. It was easier
to just let sleeping dogs lie. Captain Volton never let
(42:06):
the case go, and he couched his nineteen fifty four
report in veiled terms, referring to Jonas Willard Green only
as ex Sergeant Green rather than use his full name.
I believe he did this purposefully to keep any one
of importance who was still around and saw it, from
tossing his report into the trash can. It was a
strategy that eventually worked. My friend Stephanie White cracked Green's identity,
(42:31):
and I put all the pieces together. That's my opening
argument against my primary suspect, William Clark. He had the means,
the motive, and the opportunity to commit this crime. His
alibi has been obliterated, his lives have been exposed, his
affiliation to people of influence has been found. His past
criminal history showed his pensiont for armed robbery, and his
(42:53):
subsequent crimes showed his propensity for violence and a complete
disregard for human life. I'll present more about William Clark
next week, and I'll talk about Robert Jenny Walter, Oliver
Francis Gregory, Jonas Willard Greene, and Mary branch In the
next few episodes. Oh and you might be wondering, what
(43:14):
about James Weir, the guy who gave William Clark an alibi? Well,
who do you think Captain Bolton's confidential informant was. If
you have information about the Carborn murders, go to the
Shattered Souls Facebook page and leave me a message. Shattered
Souls The Carborn Murders as produced by Karen Smith and
(43:37):
Angel Heart Productions
He was involved in a criminal world with his friends
and associates. It quickly ed related into the homicide. It
wouldn't surprise me at all incompetence or corruption, especially in DC.
There was a lot of activity going on. The case
was forgotten while open up this can of worm. There
(00:22):
were things that were just bess left buried. Welcome back
to Shattered Souls the car Barn Murders. I'm your host,
Karen Smith. This is episode fifteen. This podcast contains graphic
language and is not suitable for children. Previously on the
(00:44):
Carborn murders in ninety four, Captain Theodore Volton wrote a
follow up report after a male confidential informant came forward
with new information on the Carborn murder case. This same
informant had come forward in nineteen forty along with a
female informant, with information that the robbery and murders were
(01:07):
planned in a beauty salon operated by Jonas Willard Green,
a former sergeant from the Washington d C. Police Force.
The female informants said that Jonas Willard Greene, William Clark,
a man named White, a woman named Emmanuel, and a
man named Duffy all attended this meeting Jonas Willard Green
(01:29):
ran a large number of rooming houses around the district
and amassed millions of dollars in profits without ever being
questioned or arrested for any violations of the law, even
though the vast majority of his tenants were young, single women.
It's my belief that the vast majority of his rooming
houses were dens of prostitution and hubs for racketeers. I
(01:50):
found no definitive proof such as police raids listed in
the news, but the circumstantial evidence and common sense certainly
points the needle in that direct action. Based upon the
exponential growth of the Green's wealth in a very short
period of time, a fugitive from justice on a rape
chart had taken refuge in one of Green's rooms, and
(02:13):
Green had some type of alliance with Orville Staples, another
x DC police officer who became the boss in the
slot machine and bootlegging rackets. Jonas Willard Green's high end
clothing business, Mill Green Incorporated, burned to the ground under
suspicious circumstances right before a final bankruptcy hearing, nearly killing
(02:34):
two tenants of a third floor apartment. Green filed an
insurance claim for ten thousand dollars for the loss of
the contents that were supposed to have been sold at
a bankruptcy sale months before. Jonas Willard Green quit the
police department under a dark cloud after three district inspectors
found six violations in just one week of following his
(02:56):
every move. Numerous letters to the DC Commissioners from senators
and congressmen failed to get Green off the hook. It
made me wonder what Green got away with before someone
in the department decided to get firsthand dirt on him.
At the end of episode fourteen, I mentioned that I
also discovered that Jonas Willard Green was related to District
(03:18):
Commission President Melvin Hazen, one of the most influential elites
in the district. I found out that Green and Hazen
were cousins, talk about one hand washing the other. In
nineteen thirty three, Hazen was appointed to his position by
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, with whom Hazen was a social friend.
(03:41):
Hazen was also friends with members of the Senate in Congress,
the District Attorney's office, and with d C Police Superintendent
Ernest Brown, Lord Mayor of Washington. Melvin Hazen had the
power to quash criminal charges for his friends with a
simple phone call. In my eyes, Jonas Willard Green skirted
the law because he was politically, socially and economically connected
(04:05):
to the right person, his own cousin, who took payoffs
to ignore any violations. The police department allowed his rooming
house prostitution business to operate, turned a blind eye to
Green's underworld deals and pocketed hush money. Taking payoffs to
ignore it was much easier than going after a big
fish like Jonas Willard Green, who had connections that led
(04:27):
directly to the Capitol Building and the White House through
his cousin Melvin Hazen. In my opinion, Jonas Willard Green
was hands off untouchable. Teflon Green was a man of
great wealth and influence with a family connection to the
most influential man in the city. As long as those
at the top of the political food chain worked together,
(04:51):
there was no threat or worry about getting caught by
the police, who were being paid handsomely to look the
other way. On the surface, the scheme was simple and
clear cut, but the public was being sold a bill
of goods. Since the real racket kings like Jonas Willard
Green were operating wide open and with the tacit permission
(05:11):
of those tasked with eliminating them simply put money talks.
Jonas Willard Green and his wife Gertrude opened a beauty
parlor Green's Company Incorporated in nine in the tobacco store
that had been owned by Gertrude's father before he died.
Green's Company Incorporated was in the same location as the
(05:34):
Shingle Shop, a beauty parlor half owned by James Weir,
and the Modern School of Beauty owned by weird sister
Niva Berardinelli. This single location of all three businesses was
the connective tissue between Jonas Willard Green, James Weir, and
William Clark, my primary suspect for the robbery and murders
(05:54):
of James Mitchell and Emery Smith. The fact that all
three of these dy salon's were one and the same
adds a lot of weight to the statement by the
female confidential informant who said that the crime was planned
in a beauty salon operated by Jonas Willard Green, and
that William Clark was at that meeting. The female informant
(06:15):
was privy to this information, who was present and where
it occurred, so she must have either been a direct
witness to this meeting or had credible information of her
own to offer to Captain Bolton. Continuing to unfold the
nineteen fifty four addendum report, Captain Bolton came out of
retirement and did some digging of his own. He found
(06:37):
out that the woman who went by the name Emmanuel,
who was present during the planning meeting at Green's beauty salon,
was actually named Gertrude. Could she have been Jonas Willard
Green's ex wife, Gertrude Pond or Green's daughter Gertrude She
also became a beautician, and an award winning one at
that That sure seemed coincidental to me. Volton also discovered
(07:03):
information about Duffy, the mechanic who operated a garage for
Jonas Willard Green in the area of Seventh and End
Streets Northwest. Duffy was also at the meeting, and he
disappeared in nineteen thirty six and was never heard from again.
If Duffy helped to hide the car used in the
murders and wasn't trusted to keep things quiet, was he expendable?
(07:28):
Was Duffy another despicable witness? Elimination the female informant and
Volton searched that area in nineteen forty, but the garage
and car were never located. Also recall the name John Swayes,
William Clark's associate. Swayes was a taxi driver and mechanic,
(07:50):
and he lived at Fourth and End Streets Northwest, just
three blocks from that garage. William Clark visited John Swayes
at a gas station and on the night he took
Mary Branch out to killer. That sounded like additional premeditated
planning between Clarke and Swales. Could John Swales actually have
(08:11):
been Duffy, the mechanic who worked for Jonas Willard Green
and was never heard from after nineteen thirty six. My
sixth sense says yes, but unfortunately I don't know for sure,
and I have no way to find out. Before I
go forward, I need to say this, we stand on
(08:32):
the shoulders of giants when we work cold cases like
this one. Without the incredible gumshoe detective work of Theodore Bolton,
Leroy Rogers, James mccauliffe, Stewart Deal and the follow ups
by Jack Toomey, and the reports and information that have
been preserved for over eighty seven years, I would never
have been able to complete my investigation. I have to
(08:55):
give credit where it's due to all of them. I
say thank you for your debty cation and work to
try to find the answers. You handed the ball off
and I ran with it. This investigation was not only
for my family and James Mitchell's family, it was for
all of them as well. Captain Volton's ninety four report
(09:16):
rounded out the list of players in this horrible story.
I had to finish putting all of the pieces together
to present a case not only to you, but to
the people with the power to make a ruling on
the Carborn case and whether or not my investigation is
worthy of ruling. It closed for good, just like my
years on the street. If it's not documented, it didn't happen.
(09:38):
It's all in the articulation. And believe me, this is
the longest police report I've ever written. In order for
a case to go forward, the information must be accurate, factual, objective,
and verifiable. Obviously, there won't be any arrests or indictments
since everyone involved is presumed dead given their age at
the time of the crime. But my game is to
(10:01):
get the Carborn case officially solved and closed. You play
the most important role. You're the public jury. After you've
listened to all of the evidence and information, I'm going
to leave it in your hands to decide whether or
not I've made my case, and either take that information
to the Montgomery County State Attorney's Office for a final ruling,
or be satisfied that although I gave it my best shot,
(10:25):
there just wasn't enough in the public side to make
a verdict. That's a scary prospect, but it's the only
fair and balanced way to do this. This is a
largely circumstantial case, and after eighty seven years, that's not surprising.
There's no DNA available, no murder weapon to do ballistics comparisons.
The evidence from the scene at the Rock Creek Bridge
(10:47):
was lost or destroyed decades ago. The gun and bloody clothing,
supposedly in the possession of Captain Richard McCarty was never
reported or followed up. The car was never found. The
reports detailed nothing about the clothing of victims James Mitchell
and Emery Smith, and the chain of custody for the
bullets and casings is unclear since they were sent via
(11:07):
the post Office to various other departments for comparison to
their cases with similar circumstances. It's my understanding that there
is one bullet that's remained in a sealed envelope from
Pumphrey's fueral home, and that evidence is still in the
possession of the Montgomery County Police. Without a gun for comparison,
it's useless. Without a chain of custody for the gun,
(11:29):
if it's ever located, the murder weapon would be useless.
Bottom line, this isn't a forensic case. In order for you,
the public jury, to make a fair ruling, there are
a couple of little housekeeping items to go through, starting
with an explanation of the types of evidence, direct and circumstantial.
Either of them can be used to prove any fact.
(11:51):
There's no distinction between the weight that you can give
to either direct or circumstantial evidence. It is for you,
the jury, to decide how huch weight to give any
piece of evidence. Now, what's the difference. Direct evidence establishes
a fact. Eyewitness testimony and suspect confessions are examples of
direct evidence, and as we all know, eyewitness testimony can
(12:14):
be flawed and people can give false confessions. So even
though direct evidence can provide a factual part of a case,
the weight of that direct evidence still hinges on the
totality of circumstances, and that is where circumstantial evidence comes in.
Circumstantial evidence is what many cases are based on. This
includes forensic science like DNA and fingerprints. It's not absolute
(12:39):
proof of a fact in and of itself, but when
circumstantial evidence from multiple sources all lead to the same conclusion,
then it's considered to be proof of guilt beyond a
reasonable doubt. Does that circumstantial evidence lead to other evidence
that tells a logical story? Now, hold on, there's a catch.
It's only proof of guilt if there's no alternative explanation
(13:02):
of innocence that makes as much sense or more sense
than the establishment of guilt through that same evidence. In short,
is there a logical conclusion through the circumstantial evidence that
establishes the facts of the case along with any intent
by the suspect. In the end, the jury has to
weigh not only the facts presented in the way of
(13:23):
direct evidence, but the logical conclusions via circumstantial evidence. It's
a heavy burden. Sometimes when a case hinges on one
eye witness or one small forensic clue. Henry David Thoreau
once said, some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when
you find a trout in the milk. He meant that,
(13:45):
if you find a trout in your milk bucket, it
sure didn't swim there on its own. And my opinion,
if the Carborn case is that milk bucket, there's an
entire aquarium swimming around in it. If I were to
present the evidence on this case today to one of
the prosecutors I worked with over many years and many investigations,
(14:07):
I believe that not only would they bring forward a
criminal indictment, they'd also receive a resounding guilty verdict in
court once they argued the facts to an unbiased jury.
Now that's just my opinion, and opinions are like, well,
you know, everybody has one. I had to take all
of this into consideration when I started to make my
(14:29):
conclusions on this case. I knew that there would be
very little, if any, direct evidence, and that it would
be largely circumstantial. But after being a witness in so
many trials as a detective and watching how the prosecution
and the defense put their cases together, I had a
pretty good idea of how to present my findings to
you in an unbiased way. Believe me, I would love
(14:52):
nothing more than to stamp the words case solved on
this file, but that's not how it works. I have
to rely on an objective jury. That's you. So welcome
to the car Barn Murders Podcast courtroom. Switch your investigator
thinking cap over to your impartial juror hat and let's
get started. I'll begin with a quick review and then
(15:15):
I'm going to present the case against my primary suspect,
William Clark. On January one, ninety two victims were brutally
murdered during a robbery of the Chevy Chase Lake ticket
office of the Capital Transit Company. James Mitchell and Emery
Smith had both been shot multiple times in the head
(15:36):
with the same gun, a coult Oh three thirty two
caliber semi automatic. James Mitchell's body was left on the
floor of the locked money cage and Emery Smith's body
was found floating in Rock Creek, just a mile north
of the office. Evidence suggested that Smith had been shot
in a car at close range before being dragged into
the water by two suspects. Emery Smith had punched his
(16:00):
time clock card at four twenty three am, the last
verifiable action of either victim. Witness Parker Hannah arrived for
work at about five ten in the morning and found
the front door of the ticket office unlocked. When he entered,
he found James Mitchell's body in the locked money cage.
Parker Hannah, Robert Abersolt, and Lynwood Jones went into the
(16:22):
trainman's room and found Francis Gregory allegedly asleep on a
bench next to the wall adjacent to the money cage
where Mitchell was shot and killed. All of the other
doors inside of the ticket office were reported to be unlocked.
Parker Hannah reported that the north side window was unlocked,
with muddy shoeprints left on the window sill, the screen
(16:43):
lying on the ground outside, and one set of shoeprints
in the snow outside of that window. Ear witnessed Charles
Smallwood heard gunshots and shouting on the street from the
basement of the T. W. Perry Coal Company at around
four thirty five am. I witness Anist Carter was waiting
on the first trolley at Dan's hotdog stand at around
(17:05):
four thirty when he heard gunshots and shouting, and saw
two white men run out of the ticket office and
get into a green buick driven by a third man.
He reported that the car was initially facing southbound, did
a U turn on Connecticut Avenue and went north toward
the Rock Creek Bridge. Shoeprints in the snow exited the
car barn and stopped abruptly at Connecticut Avenue. Other shoeprints
(17:29):
led south from an area of empty lots to the
north of the ticket office and back to tire tracks
of a vehicle that circled and waited before turning southbound
on Connecticut Avenue. Hand impressions in the snow on a
rock between the office and the empty lots showed that
someone stopped and sat down. No fingerprints were found on
any evidence, and no blood was found outside of the
(17:51):
ticket office. Four shell casings, one thirty two caliber bullet,
and two projectiles were collected at the scene, one from
behind and an inkwell and one from the plaster above
the desk. Another projectile went through the desk and remained
lodged in the wall that separated the office from the
trainman's room. There were no reports of any shell casings
(18:11):
found at the bridge over Rock Creek or anywhere outside
of the ticket office or Carborne. On the afternoon of Monday,
January twenty one, the day of the murders, William Clark
went to police headquarters and told the detectives that he'd
heard Street talk about his possible involvement and inserted himself
into the investigation. He was held in jail for three days.
(18:34):
Clark's girlfriend, Mary Branch and his friend James Weir were
also arrested and brought in for questioning. William Clark worked
for Capital Transit at the chevy Chase Lake Ticket office
for one month in September of nineteen thirty four. On
October fourteenth, nineteen thirty four, he was arrested along with
James Weir for committing an armed robbery. Around Christmas of
(18:57):
nineteen thirty four, William Clark sold his Capital Transit Company
uniform to Francis Gregory, the man allegedly sleeping in the
trainman's room on the morning of the murders. On Saturday,
January nineteenth, nineteen thirty five, just two days before the murders,
William Clark went to the chevy Chase Lake Ticket office
two times under the guise of retrieving a change carrier.
(19:19):
On Sunday night, January Clark had a meeting with a
police officer at the apartment of his girlfriend, Mary Branch
at fourteen fifteen Gerard Street. Clark said that he, James
Weir and Mary Branch all went to the Gaiety Theater
and arrived back home around eleven thirty pm. He said
that he didn't leave Mary's apartment until one fifteen Monday afternoon,
(19:41):
at which point he went down to police headquarters. William
Clark admitted to sleeping in the bedroom while Mary Branch
slept on the couch. James Weir went home around eleven
fifteen pm. This was verified by his friend Joseph Goddard.
William Clark said that he had an appointment with mister Stevens,
the superintendent of Transportation, for Monday, January twenty first, in
(20:04):
order to get his job back. Mister Stevens referred Clark
to mister Kelly, the company's attorney. Clark did not keep
either appointment, opting instead to go to the police station.
A green Buick was stolen from the area of fifteenth
in Irving Street at around ten o'clock p m. On
Sunday night, January twentieth. This car was never recovered, and
(20:26):
it was located within walking distance from William Clark's apartment
on Gerard Street, just two blocks away. I witness Ernest
Carter was certain that the car he saw outside of
the ticket office at the time of the robbery and
murders was a Green Buick. Here say information from witness
kW Gettings via his roommate, alleged that Gettings saw William
(20:47):
Clark on the morning of the murders in a Pontiac
sedan parked across the street from the fourteenth and East
Capitol Street ticket office when a milk truck shined its
headlights across the driver of the car, whom Gettings identify
as William Clark. During his police interview, William Clark admitted
to knowing James Mitchell. I discovered that Mitchell aided the
(21:09):
police on a previous arrest of Clark for robbery. Clark
denied knowing my great uncle Emory Smith. However, he described
Smith very accurately during his interview with detectives, and he
worked at the same location and during the same hours
as Emory Smith for a month in the fall of
nineteen thirty four. William Clark's movements, meetings, times of departure, return,
(21:33):
and subsequent actions did not coincide at all with the
information from his girlfriend Mary Branch. Clark failed to mention
any meeting with a police officer on Sunday night, a
taxi ride to the Gayety Theater. He also failed to
mention his friendship with Francis Gregory until the detectives prompted
a response, at which time he admitted to knowing Gregory.
(21:55):
William Clark also admitted that he frequented the horse track
we William Clark was in serious debt. He owed witness
Frank Sherman one hundred sixty five dollars to whom he
had already written several bad checks. Clarke gave Sheerman a
vehicle as collateral. Clark told Sherman that three hundred dollars
was owed on the bank note, but in actuality there
(22:17):
was six hundred fifty dollars owed on the car from
a previous loan that Clark had taken out on it.
The week before the murders, Clark, his cousin Benny Johnson,
and two other men went to Sherman's home in Baltimore
at one thirty in the morning and tried to strong
arm the car back. Clark told Sheuerman that he desperately
needed it. Clark left without the car and Mr. Sherman
(22:40):
kept it. Mary Branch said that Clark had been in
trouble for failing to pay alimony to his wife, Viola
and in support of their three children. Mary also stated
that she had paid money on the car that Clark
took to Sherman's. She helped him financially, gave him food
and a place to live. In May of nineteen thirty five,
just five months after the murders of James Mitchell and
(23:02):
Emery Smith, William Clark drove Mary Branch into rural Ilchester, Maryland,
in the middle of the night. He beat her senseless
with a blackjack and then threw her over a thirty
five foot bridge into the Patapsco River, believing he had
left her for dead. Later that morning, Clark got word
from his cousin Benny Johnson, threw a taxi driver that
(23:23):
Mary survived the beating and fall into the water and
was at the hospital. William Clark panicked and ran out
of his apartment, followed closely by a woman. Clark represented
himself in court on the attempted murder charge and was
found guilty in June of nineteen thirty five. He received
an eight year prison sentence at the Maryland State Penitentiary.
(23:44):
Before the attempt on her life, Mary Branch had been
talking to Francis Gregory and told Gregory that Clark would
sit around and plan hold ups. She also told Gregory
that she heard Clarke was seeing another woman, and if
she found that to be true, she would tell everything
she new to the police. A few days later, Clark
tried to kill her. Mary told a newspaper reporter that
(24:06):
the reason for the attempted murder was because she knew
too much. William Clark purchased furniture and put five hundred
dollars down on a house in Chevy Chase with his
other girlfriend, Edith Small, the woman referenced by Mary Branch
as the catalyst for her discussion with Francis Gregory. Mary
Branch wrote to William Clark in prison regarding surreptitious letters
(24:29):
that she intercepted sent from Edith Small to George McNeil.
The letters referenced Clark and Edith's communications in which Edith
wrote that quote, she hoped you would soon get your
release so she and you could carry out your plans.
During Francis Gregory's interview, he ended it by saying he
(24:49):
believed William Clark was in on the Carborn job. During
William Clark's interview, the detectives surmised that Clark could have
been the fingerman for the murders. D C Police Captain
Richard McCarty believed that Clark could have used a bottle
of anesthesia found at the apartment to render Mary Branch
unconscious before committing the crime. A prostitute named Marjorie had
(25:14):
information that Clark pulled the Carborn job, which she disclosed
to Richmond Police Sergeant Anthony during a tryst. Captain Volton's
two confidential informants also named William Clark as the perpetrator.
William Clark pawned a watch taken during the robbery of
an employee of the Hot Shops restaurant chain to a
(25:34):
man named John Swayes. Clark visited Swales at a gas
station at Fourth and End Street Northwest on the night
he took Mary Branch out to kill her. John Swayales
also visited Clark several times when he worked at the
Chevy Chase Lake office. John Swayes was a taxi driver
and a mechanic. From his prison cell, Clark wrote to
(25:55):
several people, including Nevo Berardinelli, James Weir sister. James Weir
had a half interest in the Shingle Shop beauty parlor.
Niva Borardinelli owned the Modern School of Beauty. Both shared
a location with Green's Company Incorporated, a beauty parlor owned
by ex DC Police Sergeant Jonas Willard Green. In nineteen
(26:16):
thirty eight, Captain Richard McCarty informed Captain Bolton that he
completed an independent investigation on William Clark in nineteen thirty
five and about the anesthesia bottle that was never reported.
Captain McCarty was also allegedly in possession of a gun
and bloody clothing that belonged to William Clark, but the
disposition of those items remains unknown. Clark was also alleged
(26:38):
to have received three or four guns from a police officer,
but this was also unsubstantiated. In nineteen thirty five, a
reference was made to Shorty at the garage at seventh
and End Street Northwest, who could tell more about Clark
than anyone. Another man named Duffy operated a garage at
Seventh and End Street Northwest and was a mccannic for
(27:00):
Jonas Willard Green. In nineteen forty, Detective Volton and a
female informant attempted to find a garage in the area
of Seventh and End Streets that how's the vehicle used
in the robbery and murders. The garage and car were
never located. In nineteen fifty four, a male confidential informant
came forward with new information. This same informant had also
(27:22):
spoken about the murders in nineteen forty. The male informant
received information from a confidential female informant that the robbery
and murders were planned in a beauty salon operated by
Jonas Willard Green, and that William Clark was at that meeting.
Those are the facts about William Clark as they've been
presented in the case file and within my objective investigation.
(27:46):
With all of that information, I can add some additional
circumstantial evidence that I've found during my exhaustive research and
make some logical conclusions. First, I'm going to establish the means,
the motive, and the opportunity for William Clark to have
committed the Carborn robbery and murders. Motive is the reason
behind the crime, means is the ability to commit the crime,
(28:10):
and opportunity is the chance to commit the crime. These
three aspects are used to assist prosecutors and investigators with
the narrowing down of suspects. Although they can be considered
a trifecta of information and provide essential facts about a
specific suspect, they're not in and of themselves conclusive regarding guilt.
(28:32):
So for now just consider this information regarding William clark motive.
It was a robbery first and foremost so the motive
was money. William Clark was in serious debt and he
had a new girlfriend, Edith Small. He moved his clothes
from the apartment of his other girlfriend, Mary Branch, two
(28:53):
weeks prior to the murders. He went back to Mary's
apartment on Saturday and stayed there until Monday afternoon, when
he turned himself off in William Clark attempted to kill
Mary Branch when she threatened to tell what she knew
to the police. He owed alimony to his wife, Fiola,
in addition to other debts owed to Frank Sherman, and
Mary Branch stated that she was supporting him financially. I
(29:15):
also believe that William Clark had a gambling debt to
some very dangerous or very important people, namely Jonas Willard
Green or one of his close affiliates. I suspect that
Clark got an ultimatum at the Beauty Salon meeting and
a final warning during their Sunday night meeting time's up,
pay me or else. Clark attempted to repossess a car
(29:38):
from Frank Sherman the week before the murders, ostensibly to
repay his debt under fraudulent circumstances since the car was
already in arrears from a previous loan. After the carborn
robbery and murders, William Clark had the funds to purchase
furniture and put a five hundred dollar deposit down on
a house. William Clark had the motive to commit the
(30:01):
crime next his means. Clark knew the operation of the
Chevy Chase Lake office inside and out, since he worked
there and saw it firsthand. He would have known about
the vacant lots just to the north of the ticket
office and the path through the snow passed the miniature
golf course to get to the front door, which had
been left unlocked for him. Clark's car was at Shoreman's
(30:23):
in Baltimore, and he was unsuccessful at getting it back.
The stolen Green Buick was located within walking distance from
his apartment on Gerard Street. I witnessed Ernest Carter named
the car he saw as a Green Buick. Clark could
have secreted the car in the garage at Seventh and
End Streets and called his buddy and taxi driver, John Swales,
who lived just three blocks away, to take Clark and
(30:45):
the others back to Girard Street before the sun came up.
Regarding the murder weapon, it was reported that a police
officer gave Clark three or four different guns. That's unsubstantiated,
but access to a firearm wouldn't have been an issue.
The gun used in the carborn murders was described as
older and in not very good shape, which would point
(31:06):
to a street purchase, something Clark would have been very
familiar with. Since he was previously arrested for an armed robbery,
Clark had the means to commit the crime. Finally, opportunity
William Clark's alibi was Mary Branch and James Weir, both
of whom initially substantiated his story about attending the Gaiety
Theater on Sunday night, but the murders didn't happen until
(31:28):
early Monday morning. Mary Branch and William Clark slept separately
by their own admission, so Mary couldn't alliby him. James
Weir was home by eleven fifteen p m. According to
Mary Branch and Weir's frand Joseph Goddard. Imperatively, I recently
found a newspaper ad for the Gaiety Theater that listed
the showtimes. There was no evening show on Sunday nights.
(31:53):
The matinee started at five o'clock. None of them went
to the Gaiety Theater on Sunday night. There was no
trip in a taxi to the Gayety. Their entire alibi
about going there on Sunday night was pure, unadulterated bullshit.
The green buick was stolen at around ten o'clock PM
on Sunday night, when Clark was not at the theater.
(32:15):
William Clark had no alibi whatsoever for the night of
January to the morning of January one, William Clark had
the opportunity to commit this crime. Now that I've established
the means, motive, and opportunity for William Clark, let me
go a little further with the circumstantial evidence, using my
investigative experience peppered with a little common sense. William Clark
(32:38):
worked at the chevy Chase Lake office as a conductor
for one month in the fall of ninety four. He
knew the layout of that office, the times that the
Brinks truck would be scheduled for a pick up on
Monday morning, the amounts available, how it was packaged in
large canvas bags, that only one clerk would be inside
of the office, ingress and egress routes from Connecticut Avenue
(32:59):
where to park the are and that the final trolley
of the night left the barn at two oh five
and the three hour window before the next one was
scheduled to depart at five thirty. Clark would have known
that the night watchman would be across the street at
the car barn readying the trolleys for that first morning run.
Clark also had a friend working there that night, whom
(33:19):
I believe he enlisted to make sure that all of
the doors were unlocked. Francis Gregory Clark went to the
office twice on Saturday for no authentic reason. It's my
opinion that he was getting one last look at the
schedule board to see who would be working on Sunday night,
one final walk through of the office to get reacquainted
with the doors, the locks, exits, and entrances, and he
(33:41):
scoped it out to make sure his plan would work
without a hitch. Another reason for going there on Saturday
would be to make sure that any fingerprints left behind
during the robbery could be explained away should the cops
find them after the crime. Clark also wanted to show
his face to as many people as possible to establish
a receding alibi, just in case anyone named him outright
(34:03):
as a suspect. He could just say, of course, it
wasn't me. I was there on Saturday, which was exactly
what happened. On Sunday evening, Clark met with a police
officer with blonde hair whose name sounded like Creek or Greek.
Jonas Willard Green I believe that Clark had a gambling
debt and owed Green money. Clark was given an ultimatum
(34:27):
pay up or else along with a deadline. During that meeting,
Clark assured Green that the money was forthcoming. With the
deadline for payment imminent, the failure to recover his car
from Frank Schuerman to repay his deficit, and no other
car available that wouldn't be identified to anyone he knew,
William Clark and his accomplices Walter Oliver and Robert Janney
(34:49):
walked two blocks and stole the Green Buick from Fifteenth
and Irving Streets. They then drove to the ticket office
at fourteenth and East Capitol Street. Clark intended to rob
two ticket offices that night, the one at fourteenth and
East Capitol Street in addition to chevy Chase Lake, but
Clark was spotted by kW Gettings and had to abort
(35:11):
that first robbery, at which point they drove to the
area of chevy Chase Lake. The car was observed by
John Stout at three fifty in the morning as it
idled on the east side of Connecticut Avenue facing north,
a half mile south of the ticket office. After being
seen by John Stout, they drove to the empty lots
to the north of the chevy Chase Lake office to
(35:33):
park and wait out of sight. One of the suspects
exited the car and left shoe prints in the snow
along the B and O railroad tracks out to Connecticut
Avenue During a quick reconnaissance of the ticket office to
make sure that James Mitchell was working alone, The shoe
prints led back to the waiting car, at which point
the car exited the lots and went south to wait
(35:55):
in front of the office, with the car facing southbound.
According to plan, the front door of the ticket office
was unlocked by Francis Gregory, just like the Brightwood Ticket
office attempted robbery several months before. William Clark and either
Jenny or Oliver entered the office and demanded that James
Mitchell unlocked the cage door at gunpoint. Mitchell was taken
(36:18):
by surprise and unlocked the cage door under duress. Because
William Clark knew that James Mitchell previously aided the police
and his arrest. Clark shott Mitchell three times in the
head to eliminate him as a witness, and kicked his
body over to make sure he was dead. I don't
believe that Walter Oliver or Robert Jenny expected Clark to
(36:39):
kill Mitchell, which set everyone into a panic that would
explain the shouting heard by both Ernest Carter and Charles Smallwood.
Either Janny or Oliver grabbed the twenty two pound money bags.
Then he and Clark fled out of the office to
the waiting buick, which made a U turn on Connecticut
Avenue and went north toward the car barn where Emery
(37:01):
Smith was resting in the workshop. Smith heard the shouting
and gunshots and ran out of the barn to Connecticut Avenue.
He was forced into the car at gunpoint when he
tried to stop them, and he recognized William Clark, who
recognized him back. Smith was killed in the car with
four shots to the head to eliminate him as a witness,
(37:21):
and then he was dumped at the first convenient place,
Rock Creek, to hide his body and cover up as murder.
The car was covered with blood and the glass of
a window was shattered, so William Clark, Walter Oliver, and
Robert Channey went north to Plier's Mill Road, then east
to Georgia Avenue. They went south on Georgia Avenue, which
(37:43):
turns into Seventh Street northwest. It was a straight shot
to the garage at seventh and End Street, which was
operated by Duffy, an employee of Jonas Willard Green. Once
the car was secreted in this garage, Clark and the
others got a ride, likely from his friend John Swales,
whom I believe was Duffy, back to Gerard Street or
(38:03):
some other location to divvy up the money, and then
they went their respective ways. If the car was parked
in a garage for years without being detected, it was
hidden by someone with a lot of influence and muscle
Jonas Willard Green to keep that under wraps and keep
the people with any knowledge of its whereabouts quiet. Duffy
disappeared in nineteen thirty six. Mary Branch knew everything, and
(38:28):
she threatened to go to the police when she heard
that William Clark was seeing Edith Small. Clarke tried to
kill Mary by throwing her into a river, just like
Emery Smith had been thrown into Rock Creek. Clark panicked
when he found out that Mary survived, and he kept
her in his orbit with letters from prison. Clark juggled
all three women in his life, Viola, Mary and Edith
(38:49):
with manipulation, and he made himself into the victim. After
William Clark repaid his debt to Jonas Willard Green with
the spoils from the robbery, and the investigation into the
murders began. The district powers in charge learned of Clark's
alliance with Green, Clark's investigation became hands off. The detectives
(39:10):
chased other suspects from out of town notorious murderers like
Tony the Stinger Cogino, who wouldn't be bothered with a
small town heist. Like the chevy Chase Lake Office, they
went on wild goose chases. William Clark was in custody
for three days. There was no follow up regarding his alibi,
no further questions about the fact that the Gaiety Theater
(39:30):
had no Sunday night show, which is something that anyone
who lived in d C would have known outright, especially
the district detectives who questioned him. James Weir wasn't pursued
at all, and his interview amounted to all of two
sentences that said they didn't learn anything. As long as
the investigation steered clear of William Clark and by association,
(39:51):
Jonas Willard Green, the detectives were allowed to move forward.
That also explains why the State of Maryland started a
case against Walter Oliver and others and not directly against
William Clark, and why so many balls were dropped during
Clark's part of the investigation. Because of Jonas Willard Green's
tangential association to a double murder murders that were not
(40:14):
part of the original robbery plan, the case was swept
under the rug and covered up due to Green's relationship
with his cousin, d C Commission President Melvin Hazen. William
Clark wasn't discreet and would have done anything to get
out of prison or get a reduced sentence, including the
dropping of Jonas Willard Green's name. Clark couldn't be trusted
to keep a lid on it, so for the people
(40:35):
in charge, it was better to leave the case buried
under amount of suspicion rather than give Clark up as
the perpetrator and risk him running his mouth. While Clark
was in prison for the attempted murder of Mary Branch,
Clark alluded to a friend in one of his letters
whom he said would float him the money for an attorney.
In my opinion, his friend was Jonas Willard Green. I
(40:58):
believe that Montgomery County detectives Volton, mccaulliffe and Rogers could
have solved this case in nineteen thirty six, but they
were prevented from doing so by the powers in the
District of Columbia. They had no jurisdiction over the district
line from Montgomery County. That was why Colonel mccauliffe got
so angry when Jack Toomey mentioned the Carborn case to
(41:20):
him in nineteen five. Mccaulliffe knew it was a cover
up and he was powerless to do anything about it
because the suspects all lived in d C, even though
the crime happened just over the district line in Maryland.
Volton and the others were reliant upon the assistance of
district detectives who were in the know about Clark and
Green's affiliation, and the Brakes were slammed on any further investigation.
(41:44):
By nineteen fifty four, when the new information came out,
nearly twenty years had passed and nobody in the district,
including Captain Richard McCarty, was going to open that can
of arms and have to testify in court as to
their incompetence or complicity in a cover. It was easier
to just let sleeping dogs lie. Captain Volton never let
(42:06):
the case go, and he couched his nineteen fifty four
report in veiled terms, referring to Jonas Willard Green only
as ex Sergeant Green rather than use his full name.
I believe he did this purposefully to keep any one
of importance who was still around and saw it, from
tossing his report into the trash can. It was a
strategy that eventually worked. My friend Stephanie White cracked Green's identity,
(42:31):
and I put all the pieces together. That's my opening
argument against my primary suspect, William Clark. He had the means,
the motive, and the opportunity to commit this crime. His
alibi has been obliterated, his lives have been exposed, his
affiliation to people of influence has been found. His past
criminal history showed his pensiont for armed robbery, and his
(42:53):
subsequent crimes showed his propensity for violence and a complete
disregard for human life. I'll present more about William Clark
next week, and I'll talk about Robert Jenny Walter, Oliver
Francis Gregory, Jonas Willard Greene, and Mary branch In the
next few episodes. Oh and you might be wondering, what
(43:14):
about James Weir, the guy who gave William Clark an alibi? Well,
who do you think Captain Bolton's confidential informant was. If
you have information about the Carborn murders, go to the
Shattered Souls Facebook page and leave me a message. Shattered
Souls The Carborn Murders as produced by Karen Smith and
(43:37):
Angel Heart Productions
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